modern love

Last Thursday brought yet more rain – and though I was saving this trip for when the weather got colder, I was just as happy to get up there sooner.

Dia Beacon is a contemporary art museum housed in the former Nabisco box printing factory. It was built in 1929 and is considered an outstanding example of early 20th century industrial design. A quote from the web site: “Design elements include broad spans between supporting columns, and more than 34,000-square-feet of skylights which create an exceptional environment for viewing works of contemporary art in natural light.”

These features also make the museum an “exceptional environment” for a small child. The size of the galleries create the perfect setting for large scale works of art – and lots of room for little legs to move around and wander:

I thought Noah would love these Imi Knoebel paintings – the shapes, the colors – but he ran through once and would not go back to take another look. Fortunately, he was more interested in the Sol LeWitt wall drawings (my personal favorites):

After about an hour or so it was clear that Noah needed a break – lucky for us the rain had stopped and the sun came out so we were able to go outside and explore the grounds. I gained a new sense of appreciation for the beautiful landscape design (click here for a great article), experiencing it through Noah’s perspective:

He especially enjoyed climbing up and down (and in and out of) the metal and concrete staircases:

We had a nice lunch at the museum cafe and strolled the grounds again before heading home.